Netanyahu threatens legal action against Haaretz

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he plans to sue the newspaper Haaretz over a report alleging that he was warned about Hamas’s plans for a major offensive several days before the October 7, 2023 attacks.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Netanyahu rejected the report as fabricated and untrue. He said he had instructed his lawyers to take legal action not only against Haaretz but also against the journalists who wrote the report, Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yaval.

The report, published on Tuesday, alleged that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed, widely known as MBZ, warned Netanyahu about a possible Hamas attack around 10 days before October 7, 2023, Al Jazeera reported.

According to the report, MBZ spoke to Netanyahu by phone after receiving information concerning then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar was reportedly frustrated by the lack of progress in prisoner-exchange negotiations and Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza.

The report said Sinwar had conveyed through an intermediary that he was preparing a major surprise and that Israel should expect a dramatic escalation. MBZ and his advisers allegedly interpreted the message as a warning of a large-scale attack.

Haaretz reported that the information was passed on to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, but the agency allegedly did not consider the warning sufficiently credible.

The report further claimed that MBZ subsequently raised the issue directly with Netanyahu, who also dismissed the warning.

The UAE government has not confirmed or denied the allegations. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that the government does not comment on media reports or speculation concerning conversations between heads of government.

The report comes as Netanyahu faces a difficult political battle ahead of the Knesset elections scheduled for October. Polls have reportedly placed him behind former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who is mounting a strong challenge.

Netanyahu has accused Haaretz of publishing the report for political reasons, describing it as part of what he considers an election campaign by the Israeli left.

He also rejected the claim that he had spoken by telephone with MBZ. Netanyahu said the National Security Council and his military secretary had carefully examined his telephone records from the relevant period and found no evidence of such a conversation.

In a separate statement, Netanyahu alleged that Palestinian political figure Muhammad Dahlan was behind what he described as the false report published by Haaretz.

Dahlan was expelled from the Fatah movement in 2011 following a power struggle with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He currently lives in the UAE.

Israeli media reported that representatives of Dahlan have rejected Netanyahu’s allegation.